Does Fat Grafting Work in Thin Patients?

There is no stopping the success of fat grafting. Removing unwanted fat from one area and then using that same fat to volumize another area of the body sounds too good to be true, but it’s not! Almost everyone wouldn’t mind having a bit of fat taken from one place and moved to another. How about the fat in your love handles reduced and placed in your breasts or buttocks?

Dr. Daniel Del Vecchio is an expert when it comes to the shuffling of fat, helping patient after patient gain shape and contour to certain areas of their body. With all of the positives, there is one question that a certain subset of would-be patients are wondering about: “If I’m a thin person looking for a buttock or breast augmentation with fat grafting alone, will the procedure work?

By Daniel Del Vecchio, MD
and Adam McMillon
The Plastic Surgery Channel

All Patients are Candidates for Fat Grafting

With very little fat, how does the procedure work? The key to fat grafting is self-explanatory: you need fat if you want to add volume to another area. Whether it be the breasts, the buttock, the hands, even the face… fat grafting works by removing unwanted fat and reinserting it into the places that need volume. Obviously, then, you have to have fat to take out! So what about a patient who doesn’t have much to work with?

“I have a lot of patients who come into the office that are really thin… 100, 110 pounds,” says Dr. Del Vecchio. “They ask me, ‘Can I have buttock or breast augmentation with fat?’ The answer is absolutely!”

“Gain 5-10 pounds, we’ll remove the fat from wherever it shows up on your body, we’ll put it in your buttock or breasts, and then you maintain that weight.”

Stop thinking about weight; Beauty is about contour

Del Vecchio’s process and the success that has ensued revolves around a shift in the way we view beauty. A person’s weight does not define their beauty… contour is what defines beauty.

Taking a bit of fat out of the midsection and reinserting into the buttock will give your buttocks more volume and shape, but that’s only the basic result. The shifting of fat has caused an increase in contour, giving the waist a more hourglass shape as it curves toward the slightly larger buttock. In this way, fat grafting gives a better look overall, not just some extra volume in one area.

“At the end of the day, it’s not about how much you weigh on a scale,” explains Del Vecchio, “It’s about the way you look in a mirror.”